ArmInfo.The shutdown dates for preventive maintenance of the Armenian Nuclear Power Plant have been rescheduled. This was stated by the Chairman of the Nuclear Safety Committee of the Republic of Armenia Ashot Martirosyan in an interview with ArmInfo correspondent.
According to him, it was originally planned that the station will be stopped at the outage from May 15, but now a decision has been made to postpone this period. It is planned that the ANPP will be stopped from July 1. The delay, which meets both the interests of the plant and the country's energy system, is largely due to the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the closed borders, the station must manage to conclude agreements on the supply of necessary equipment, raw materials. It is expected that the ANPP will be stopped for a period of 65 days, during which a significant amount of work is to be completed.
It should be noted that the station is implementing a program to extend the second power unit by 10 years - until 2026. The project provides for annealing of the reactor vessel, modernization of security systems, and replacement of equipment, which is also associated with security systems. In addition, basic calculation and technical justifications will be developed and applied on the possibility of further safe operation of irreplaceable equipment. After annealing the dome of the reactor, the calculation will be made based on the residual life of the reactor, and if the result is positive, the reactor will be able to work another 15 years. As a result of the implementation of the program, the installed capacity of the Armenian NPP will increase by 12% -15%. All work must be completed before the end of 2021.
To recall, for the implementation of the program, the Russian Federation provided Armenia with a loan of $ 270 million and a grant of $ 30 million for a period of 15 years with a grace period of payments in the first three years. Moreover, the annual interest rate on payments is 3%.
The Armenian NPP consists of two units with Soviet (Russian) VVER reactors. The first unit was commissioned in 1976, the second - in 1980. In March 1989, after the Spitak earthquake, which killed 25 thousand people, the station was stopped. In November 1995, in connection with the most acute energy crisis, the second power unit of the station with a capacity of 407.5 MW was activated. In March 2014, the Armenian government decided to extend the life of the second power unit.
